The cure for the common cold (room)


I won’t say the Dreo WH719S wall-mount space heater saved my marriage, but it did thaw out my poor wife. See, our master bedroom has always been drafty — and in winter downright cold. This despite relatively new windows and some added insulation in the attic. Right now, for example, it’s 59 degrees in there, versus 72 in the rest of the house.

For a long time I considered a space heater, but didn’t want something that sat on the floor (tripping hazard), required yet another remote and probably wouldn’t do much anyway. Meanwhile, my wife took to wearing a hat to bed and shivering under multiple blankets. Something had to be done.

When Dreo introduced the WH719S late last year, it seemed to tick all the important boxes: a wall-mount design, smart controls via app and voice assistant and an oscillating fan to help push and distribute heat throughout the room. But was it as a good in reality as it was on paper? Here’s my Dreo space heater review.

Rick Broida/Yahoo News

VERDICT: Smart in both design and operation, this space heater is superb in small rooms and pretty good in medium ones.

Pros

  • Effectively heats small rooms
  • Attractive design
  • Easy to install
  • Works with voice assistants
  • Runs quiet
  • Supports scheduling and timed operation
Cons

  • Some confusing controls
  • Struggles in larger rooms

$130 at Amazon

The nicely styled WH719S measures roughly 20 inches wide, 13.4 inches high and 4.7 inches deep. Along with detailed, easy-to-read instructions, an included drill guide and wall anchors make installation quick and simple: Just four holes in the drywall (and/or studs) and you’re ready to hang it.

There’s an electrical cord, of course, but you can wrap the excess at the rear to minimize unsightly cord dangling. I mounted the unit reasonably close to an AC outlet to help with that as well.

You can operate the heater using four different methods. There’s a row of touch-activated buttons on the front and a remote with more or less the same controls. There’s also the Dreo app, which requires you to first connect the unit to your home Wi-Fi network. And from there you have the option of linking Alexa or Google Assistant, which allows for spoken commands.

A close-up of the Dreo space heater remote.

The Dreo remote gets the job done, even if the icons aren’t super-intuitive. I prefer using the app and voice commands. (Rick Broida/Yahoo News)

Because a few of the physical controls on both the unit and remote are a bit cryptic, I’m partial to the app for most operations. For example, I use it to turn the heater on shortly before bed, which I can do manually or by setting up a schedule. I can also set a timer so it goes off after a set period.

You’ll also need the app to tweak various preferences, such as enabling a child-lock (which disables the heater’s buttons) and open-window detection.

A close-up of the Dreo WH719S display and control panel.

The WH719S has a control panel with the same slightly confusing buttons as the remote. But overall it’s a nice-looking unit. (Rick Broida/Yahoo News)

On the voice front, it’s nice to be able to say, “Alexa, turn on the heater” whenever needed, without even touching my phone. And you can use voice commands to adjust various modes and settings as well, not just turn the unit on and off.

The heater has three power settings, or you can switch to Eco mode and set a desired temperature for it to maintain. The fan’s three angle options — up, down, and straight — might be useful depending on where you mount the unit. If it’s up high, for example, you might want it angled down. There’s also an oscillate mode to better distribute the warm air throughout the room. And if you just want to circulate air without heat, switch to fan-only mode.

Screenshots from Dreo app.

The Dreo app makes it easy to operate the WH719S and choose your preferred settings. It also shows ambient room temperature and lets you set up timers and schedules. (Rick Broida/Yahoo News)

Like nearly all space heaters, this one tops out at 1,500 watts. And, like nearly all space heaters, it performs better in smaller rooms than larger ones. In a 12×10-foot office, for example, it can work wonders. But in my aforementioned bedroom, which I’d describe as “medium,” it merely works.

For testing purposes, I set the WH719S to maximum (aka “H3”) and turned on oscillation. In the span of just 15 minutes, my bedroom went from a chilly 59 to a more comfortable 67. (I know this because the Dreo has its own ambient-temperature sensor built in.)

However, with an outdoor temperature in the single digits, that was about as warm as it could make the room. I left it running for another 30 minutes and the temp never made it above 68. Was that much more comfortable? Absolutely. But it did show the unit’s limitations.

Even so, I find it vastly superior to any fan-less heater, which doesn’t do much beyond the immediate area. And I especially appreciate how quiet it is; at the H1 setting it’s almost silent, and even at H3 it produces just a low whoosh — making it a pretty good white-noise machine for sleepers who like that sort of thing.

There are plenty of space heaters that oscillate and have fans, and a floor-standing tower model has the advantage of moving easily from one room to another. But if you want something a bit more permanent, the Dreo WH719S mounts easily to any wall, blows plenty of hot air and bakes in plenty of smarts. I’m quite happy having this in my bedroom — and my wife is even happier.

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